A's Anderson leaves game with back injury

PHOENIX -- A's starting pitcher Brett Anderson left his outing Sunday against the D-backs with a strained right trapezius after facing just two batters and throwing eight pitches.

"I feel all right," Anderson said. "I don't think it's anything too serious. I'm not too worried about it; it was just a bit of a freak thing."

The left-hander allowed a hit to Adam Eaton to lead off the game. Cliff Pennington then grounded to third, but Josh Donaldson could not handle it, and the ball scooted away. Eaton made a dash for the extra base, and Anderson went to third to cover, but the throw was behind him and jerked his neck away from the play as the runner slid into him.

Once Anderson got up from the ground, he felt the area located next to his right shoulder on his upper back stiffen up. A's manager Bob Melvin and the team trainer examined the southpaw on the mound before electing to remove him from the game.

"Obviously you want to get your work in," Anderson said, "but you don't want to overcompensate, change your mechanics and end up hurting your arm. So it was a precautionary thing."

Anderson added that if the injury had happened during the regular season, he would have thrown a few warm-up pitches to test it out, but the club did not want to risk doing so in Spring Training.

Back in the clubhouse, the pitcher was hooked up to a stimulation machine designed to help loosen up the knot. He said he expected to be stiff for a couple of days but hoped it would not delay his next outing.

"We're fairly confident he'll be all right to make his next start," Melvin said. "We'll know more tomorrow, but we're just happy it isn't anything serious."

Named the club's Opening Day starter in February, Anderson went 4-2 last season with a 2.57 ERA in 35 innings. Sunday was his second outing of the spring. In his first, he allowed one hit over two scoreless innings.

Leon expected back in A's camp by Monday

PHOENIX -- A day after being at the center of Team Canada and Team Mexico's bench-clearing brawl in the World Baseball Classic, A's minor league relief pitcher Arnold Leon was not back at Oakland camp Sunday morning, but manager Bob Melvin expected to see him by Monday at the latest.

Leon hit Canada's Rene Tosoni in the back with a fastball in the ninth inning of Team Mexico's elimination loss Saturday at Chase Field, igniting a wild incident and resulting in Leon's ejection from the game.

The Canadians, leading by six runs at the time, opened the ninth with a bunt single down the line. After Dodgers third baseman Luis Cruz fielded the ball, he appeared to point at his ribs then at Tosoni, as if he were telling Leon to throw at the next batter.

After the game, Team Mexico players declined to speak to the media, but Leon said from his Twitter account Sunday in Spanish, "Mexico Thanks for your support! Baseball anywhere in the world is the same! We must respect the foe have no matter the score!"

Melvin said before the A's game against the D-backs that he would decline comment until he saw video of the brawl.

"Is it for sure that it was intentional?" Melvin asked reporters. "I only read about it today; I would probably have to look at that before saying anything."

A's taking time to bring back Weeks

PHOENIX -- Like A's manager Bob Melvin hinted at Saturday, second baseman Jemile Weeks was not in the lineup Sunday against the D-backs and instead will be sent to Oakland's Minor League camp Monday to face live pitching and rehab from the bruised right shoulder he injured March 1.

"We want to get him some at-bats in a little bit of a more controlled environment," Melvin said. "It's a little easier for him to get at-bats there to make sure he's healthy. Once we feel like he's there, we'll get him back out here."

The club originally planned for Weeks to return Sunday, but the A's want to wait until he is 100 percent healthy.

"At this point, it's day to day," Melvin said. "We're going to make sure he's not pushing it and going out there a little bit nicked up."

Weeks is in the thick of a second-base competition with Jed Lowrie and Scott Sizemore, who returned from a bruised hand Tuesday.

Weeks was 6-for-11 with five RBIs in four Spring Training games before he sustained the injury.

"Once he's out there, we don't want to put him in a position where he might have to do some things to work around the injury," Melvin said.

Cespedes leaves to welcome family to United States

PHOENIX -- A's outfielder Yoenis Cespedes left the club's camp in Arizona on Saturday evening to fly to Miami to visit 14 family members who fled from Cuba two years ago but had not reached the United States until this weekend.

The story was originally reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The A's expect Cespedes back either Monday or Tuesday, depending on travel arrangements.

"He wanted to go back and see them as soon as possible," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "It was a big day for him; there were tears, then smiles. It wouldn't surprise me if he was back [Monday], but I'm not sure yet."

Even though Cespedes was able to communicate with his family last year, Melvin thought the stress of their uncertain situation weighed on him over the season.

"I know there were times last year he was grinding on it pretty hard, and for good reason," Melvin said. "It was a very emotional day for him, and I know it's a weight off his shoulders. He had to think about it last year, and now he doesn't."

Worth noting

• The A's optioned left-hander Andrew Werner and right-hander Jesse Chavez to Triple-A Sacramento, as well as Michael Ynoa to Class A Beloit, from its 40-man roster. The club also reassigned six non-roster invitees to its Minor League camp: Kyler Newby, Ryan Ortiz, Beau Taylor, Miles Head, Jefry Marte and top prospect Addison Russell.

Tyler Emerick is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.